God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
- Psalm 46:1
Last night we were eating dinner at a nearby restaurant, with Lindsey and Andrew sitting on one side of the booth and me and Katherine on the other side. Suddenly and without warning, Katherine, who’d been sitting on her knees, slipped under the table and came crashing down to the floor. She immediately started crying, so I scooped her up and held her in my arms until she calmed down.
After a few minutes, I set her back down to eat. She had a couple of fries, but then whimpered again and scooted closer to me. “Daddy’s arms!” she pleaded. I put her in my lap, held her close for a couple minutes, then set her back down. But two more times we went through the same cycle—with her scare still fresh, the only place she wanted to be was in Daddy’s arms.
There’s something about that kind of experience that we never fully outgrow—when we feel unsafe or hurt, we want to be held close. The insistence we have on being independent and proud fades away; our stubborn refusal to accept help is a thing of the past. When you’ve been knocked down, you want someone to pick you up.
Scripture promises that our heavenly Father is there for us when we stumble as well as when we are upright, that He loves us when we think we are self-sufficient and when we recognize that we aren’t. While the world can be a threatening, frightening place, God is sovereign over it all, and in Him there is rest. So whether you have fallen and are hurting or you think you have it all together, know that there is a place where safety and love can be found: in the arms of the Father.
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